How did you guys come upon my blog/how did you guys get started reading? Do you guys have any questions or comments for me?

I'm just really intrigued, haha. Over the last couple of days I've had a lot more page views so I'm wondering about where everyone is coming from!

My first day of school was good! I absolutely love my Family and Personal Development teacher already and we went over Derivatives today in my Survey of Calc class.

I looooove derivatives, if I could marry math concepts I would marry derivatives. It's an easy math concept to me and something I can do in a flash. Throw a polynomial at me and I can derive it in 5 seconds or less.

I was able to add my Conceptual Physics which means I just have to worry about the Counseling class and the Salsa class!

For those of you in school/starting the work week, how has it been thus far?

So I'm starting my 3rd year of university today (unfortunately I'm petitioning for 2 classes so let's hope that all goes well)

Due to this, my posting will probably be a little lagged for the next couple of months but I'll definitely try to keep up. I am not going to be doing anything real extracurricular although salsa club looks mighty exciting looking. Hopefully I can balance the 16 units I want plus a job!

Thus far, I'm signed up for

Survey of Calculus B- I'm actually taking this voluntarily, I loved my Survey of Calculus A teacher and I got an A by the skin of my teeth but I'm excited

Family and Personal Development- This is a class that discusses such things like current events and race relations and its impact on families and such. I think this will be my hardest class

Community Psychology- My only 8am class :( 8am normally doesn't exist for me but I'm sucking it up because I need this class. This class is about the discussion of contemporary social problems

Hopefully I can add

Conceptual Physics-dear lord, I love math but not if it applies to physics. This is nonmath physics and I couldn't be any happier!

Career Counseling- This class is basically going to help me pick a career/major. It is my 3rd year and I still have no idea about what I'm doing

Salsa- I'm honestly a dancer at heart but I hate taking the theory behind dance. Thus I'm going to try this class. I'm running out of different kinds of dance to take, I've already done ballet, jazz, lyrical, tap, and en pointe in my lifetime. I hate modern (too arm swinging and emotional for me) and I'm inspired by Dancing with the Stars for Salsa.

If you weren't aware, a melmer is a storage device that is named after the Ikea Helmer, which is excellent nail polish storage. As it is, it's called a Melmer because it's the Michael's version of it. I was scouring on MakeupAlley's nail board and found out that it was on sale for 40% off AND there was a 4 hour coupon that gave an additional 25% off of the price post-40% off.

Retail price-34.99, I got it for 15.08+tax. Cha ching ching I saved money.

I'm a little miffed about it because the instructions said estimated assembly time:15 minutes.

Yeah right, it took me like 3 hours. I'm not exactly an expert craftsman but come on, 15 minutes? I did have some difficulty with assembling the unit because the screws would be a bit stubborn and not want to go into the little holes. My right hand hurts because of all the little drawer screws which required a smaller screwdriver which was a pain to my palm

Here it is in all its glory, it looks deceivingly easy to put together.

I had originally put it on the storage unit thing without anything underneath, but I realized that it was pretty heavy with my stuff inside and it scratched up the paint on the Ikea unit. I decided to then line the bottom of it and all of the drawers with shelf liner! I got this pattern from Target and it's the nonadhesive one.

If you wanted to get a better idea of how much it fits, here's a picture of my nail polish collection sans Konad supplies

Even if I've wanted something for ages, I'll refuse paying for it if shipping is expensive or if it's more than the item I wanted to get originally.

Anything ELF falls under the weirdness about shipping. Their Studio line of products are usually around 3-6 dollars but the shipping itself is around 7. I'm picky about the things I want from them (specifically the HD powder) so I've been refusing to buy anything until that comes in stock. It's ridiculous for me to buy a 3 dollar item and then pay 7 in shipping.

But oh my gosh, there's an amazing amount of joy I have whenever I find an item that's typically online-only in stores.

Case in point, I was perusing this beauty supply shop and found this amazing beast of a nail polish. Nubar Violet Sparkle

(As watermarked, this is Scrangie's picture because I can't manage to capture the hue on my camera! All credit goes to her and I only wish I could take a great picture like she does)

Oh my gahhh, I've been lusting after this beauty for months, ever since it came out but I've been stingy as all hell about paying for it on the Nubar site. 7.49 and shipping is 11.11?@?

No way, no freaking way. I refuse, I'll pay 18 dollars for Urban Decay's 24/7 liner but not for a nail polish.

It got a bit messed up on my middle finger but that's okay. My nails are bare and I just stamped a french tip using M19 and then the swirly pattern from M56 on top in Purple stamping polish. Topped with a coat of Seche Vite :)

I ended my month long job a week ago so I stocked up on some more Konad supplies and plates.

Disclosure: I stayed late with my boss after work (until 3am!) to help her close down the booth and so she was cleaning out some of the things and gave me the Sponge Nail Art kit, Purple stamping polish and Gold Top coat for free. Everything else I bought myself.

A. Teen girls can be annoying especially if they're in groups and have money.

B. The stamping polish you can find dupes for, but the really cheap ones will argue that they can use their own rubber stamper.

C. Good customer service will lead to returning customers and/or a little boy that come by again to ask for you and will wait until you start working

D. The new style bottles of polish may look pretty but they tip over so easily. The old style plain bottles do not.

E. My booth is six feet long, I can hear every word you say. Even the nasty stuff.

F. Men who are willing to get their nail stamped by me are keepers. Their sense of humor is something you want to have.

And a post office related rant. I am number 61 and you were 52. Don't go up when I'm called saying you were 52 and you're going now. Had you asked nicely I would have said yes but no you had to be rude about it. My time is just as valuable as yours and where were you when they called 53 thru 60? I was originally 58 but I gave it to someone because I wasn't done with my packages and didn't want to spend 20 minutes at the counter.

My last day of work was yesterday. I snagged a hell of a lot of goodies for myself and she gave away a couple of things to me. It was a perk for closing with her and working from 6-3:15 but I gots to make my money somehow. She gave me a Sponge Nail Art kit so I'm kind of excited to try it!

1. When did you first get started in fashion/beauty blogging and why?- I started my blog in Jan of 2009 but I've only really consistently posted in the last couple of months. I got inspired to do this because I just wanted to just get my thoughts out on a blog.

2. Are you a sweets or savory foods type? - I'm a sweets and sour kind of girl. One of my favorite foods is a kind of pickled spring onion that tastes sweet and sour. Deliciousss

3. Favorite place in the entire world- My favorite place has to be a dance studio, it's just so freeing.

4. Other hobbies besides makeup and clothes- I love to dance. Oh man do I love to dance. I haven't had much time to do it recreationally outside of school (in fact I took a tap class at school) but I'm going to attempt to. I danced from age 5-13 and then I did another year of ballet when I was 17. I most recently did a semester of tap at my university and I'm thinking of doing salsa

I used to do dance competitions and while I may regret it later, here's a picture of me in one of my competitive dance costumes.

Look at that classy stomach cut-out. I did this dance to the song Mambo N. 5

5. Favorite drink? - Thai tea as of late. Oh man I've had so many different kinds of thai tea but I do not like boba. It just tastes all funny and feels all weird in my mouth

6. Perfect date. - Any time with my boyfriend is a perfect date. We're classy and cheap so going out to eat fast food together is sometimes considered a date with us. If I had to say what was required of a perfect date, it would have to be Olive Garden Breadsticks.

I'll say first off that my opinion is extremely biased considering I do work for a Konad vendor, but I suppose it still stands.

I think first off, can this be considered a knockoff? With regards to Konad, I'd say that all others could be considered that due to Konad's current patent applications (although I'm not aware of the other brands making patents)

At the same time though, like with computers is it a knockoff if someone else makes a similar computer or would that just be considered copycats?

I know personally I'm not one to wear knockoff Louis Vuitton bags (mostly because I don't want to wear Louis Vuitton or any other kind of expensive brand bags) but does owning Fauxnads follow under this?

If anything, I'm iffy on the whole Fauxnad thing only due to the fact that the safety issue is big with me. My boss actually got some of the Bundlemonster plates and I was testing out the edges of them; one of the plates nearly cut through construction paper which was a bit unnerving. I have read some really nifty ideas as to how to fix it (contact paper or sanding down the edges) but personally I think it isn't worth it.

That and some of the full nail plates are smaller than the Konad ones and as it is, sometimes I have trouble with the regular Konad sizes.

Gah for unscrupulous bank account fraudulent charge people! The day after I cashed my paycheck someone made a fraudulent charge and thus I had to wait for the charge to post and then I had to file a claim on it. Bah that was annoying.

On a better note, I just wanted to show you how much I like the Graftobian HD Glamour Creme foundation by doing a comparison. Plus I'm seeing Scott Pilgrim later tonight/Friday Morning! Super excited for that!

Naked Face.

With Graftobian. I wear it in shade Desert Sand but unfortunately I don't know of the MAC equivalent :(

I'm pretty happy with the Graftobian foundation especially with the look of it on my skin. It is a cream foundation and I haven't been wearing any sort of primer for my combo skin but I couldn't resist getting it.

I apply it by mixing it with silcon liquid until it's more liquidy than creamy because I find it gets heavy looking when applied just as a cream. I then take a damp sponge and wipe it over my face and it gives it a really nice natural look. It isn't crazy full coverage on my skin, but I'd rather have some natural looking coverage versus heavy cakey full coverage

I am ridiculously happy because I actually have clear skin between my eyebrows. It's probably sad to say that it's been probably 7 years since I've been able to touch my forehead and feel my skin without acne. I credit this to washing my face everyday (even with cold water :( and I hate being cold). Over the last couple of months, I judged how well my skin was by seeing how far my pinky tip could travel on my forehead without hitting any acne. Now I can stick my ring finger on my forehead and go places.

It's been tough having acne over the years. When my acne was really bad, I used to get a lot of advice from random Asian strangers and such about what I should do or not do. For example, I remember when I was reading in Barnes and Noble once and I got into a conversation with an older Vietnamese gentleman next to me. He said "you drink a lot of soda right? Drink more water and don't eat so much sugar".

It sounds absurdly rude (my boyfriend found this crazy rude) but I'm used to it and it is a big cultural divide thing. In Asian cultures we regard our elders highly and they always give out advice to the younger generation so in normal Asian realms it isn't rude or anything but just an example of the adult passing on wisdom. As it is, if an American said that to me I would be insanely insulted, due to the fact that within the boundaries of American culture that's not done.

I'll say this though, as much as I liked the results and such (my eyelashes are definitely longer and the lashes at the ends are actually slightly curled)

This is a picture of my left eye but you can see how at the end, the tiny lashes are nicely curled.

My final thoughts on this is that while it was certainly nice, 55 dollars is a heavy price to pay for slightly longer lashes. As it is, I didn't notice any drastic side effects like eyelid skin darkening so if you were really looking for a Latisse substitute, this could be it.

As a college student though, I wouldn't recommend it. However, if you were older you might actually appreciate it more due to the fact that as you age, your eyelashes thin out thus it might be useful.

As promised, a look featuring the Kryolan eyeshadow. I'm weird about posting; I tend to have a big inspiration streak that makes me impatient to wait days between posting or times where I have a lull in between posts. I can't just be patient and inspired at the same time I guess.

Off topic post first, I had a returning deaf customer on Wednesday at work, it was so so exciting :) I love being able to sign and it's nice to be able to actually use what I've learned. I think some of the other customers at the booth where I work at were a little bit intrigued due to my signing and the fact that it was quiet.

Normally where I work it gets loud because there's a cooking demonstration diagonal to us along with other vendors so it was a bit interesting to be the silent one in the middle while it was busy with my coworkers. My coworker complemented me when I was done saying it was amazing because I speak Vietnamese and know Sign :)

I should have tried harder to put Electric Eel on on my lower lash line.

Gah that Kryolan eyeshadow looks awesome.

I didn't actually use an eyeshadow base with this; I found that the matte eyeshadow showed up better on white eyeliner instead. I got this tip about putting matte pigments and shadows on white eyeliner from Dustyohunter in this video about pigment use with regards to eyes.

NYX White EyelinerKryolan TK2 eyeshadow (I did not see any other name for it and I didn't see it on the back)MAC Electric Eel in the crease and lower lash lineMAC Provence Pigment as the highlightEssence No Limits WP Mascara

I got paid on Wednesday plus got some birthday money so I thought I'd just spend a bit of it on something nice for myself. My birthday was pretty nice and simple, I got a free Daphnes Greek Cafe plate and soda and got my boyfriend lunch because he happened to be working for most of the day. I'm planning on getting a free Cold Stone's ice cream creation soon

I went shopping with my sister but didn't end up getting anything. I also went out to eat Korean BBQ and became too full to eat the ice cream cake we had gotten, haha. Pictures of my dinner at the end :)

Woo Woo Haulage. I had gotten one of the Graftobian foundations a week ago and wanted to include the new one I got. I also got a Kryolan eyeshadow in TK2 in addition to a free bottle of silicon to mix with my foundation to make it a bit lighter. The metal plate at the end is just an Essence Stampy plate turned upside down to act as a palette for me to mix my foundation in.

I paid 12 bucks for each foundation and guess how much is in that wee pot? .5 oz! If you actually look at some of the labels of higher end brands, you'll notice that they usually contain less than .5 oz of product, ex. Benefit's Some Kind of Gorgeous has only .35 oz, ditto for MAC's Studio Tech.

This color looks to be very similar to MAC's Newly Minted which was discontinued ages ago. It has such a nice texture for a matte, I've got a look featuring it coming up soon :)

By the way, the pans are about the size of MakeUpForever's eyeshadows and contain 3.5 grams. Bombdiggity because it means I paid 10 bucks for an eyeshadow that is 2 1/2 times the size(MAC's being 1.5 grams)Desert Sand on the left, Temptress on the right. You can see that Desert Sand is looking a bit more peachy than Temptress which is a bit more yellow/neutral toned.

My cheeks are lighter than my forehead which is not even the same color as my neck so I've been mixing Temptress and Desert Sand together. Even with that, my face does look a bit lighter than my neck but if I go any darker, I turn super orange so I'll just live with it. I really do love this foundation, my face looks amazingly poreless it's kind of shocking.

Korean BBQ pictures ahead! This is the end of the beauty related business :)

With Korean BBQ, you have a big grill installed into the center of the table and it has a grill plate that you cook the food on. There's chicken in the back, spicy pork and pork belly on the grill. There's also Gyeran jjim served with it, which is the eggy casserole thing to the left. Deliciousss

Along with this, you get several side dishes that you eat along with the K BBQ. Starting from the left and going clockward in, there's steamed/boiled(?) broccoli with hot sauce, cucumber kim chi, cellophane noodles with something, bean sprouts, potato salad, beans and then kim chi radishes.

The best part was the ice cream that you could self serve at the end. Fabulous

I've got a canker sore on my tongue and it really really hurts. I should be used to them (I had tons when I had braces plus I get them around once every month or two) but I've only had one on my tongue once before. It not good.

I really like the Claires Mood Polishes, especially Wild/Calm. It's probably the most dramatic and very shimmery. I was inspired by a manicure SayAnythingBr00ke with one of the new color changing Claires colors and a Fauxnad plate so I thought to recreate it with what I had, this is plate M3.

As it is, because of work I've been trying to do a new manicure each week so potential returning customers can see how nice it looks. One of my coworkers is actually an old customer that I had dealt with two weeks ago! She liked Konad so much she talked to my boss about selling it and then she got the job. Super super awesome but my job ends in less than 2 weeks which makes me sad :( I'll need to go job hunting again.

I'm so so grateful for A Polish Problem and Positively Polish for recently featuring on the new blog roundups/alerts :) It's really nice being able to have an audience for my odd ramblings. I highly highly recommend you guys check out all the blogs that were featured!

I wanted to post about something I got at Big Lots

Hells yeah for Count Chocula. During Count Chocula season I ate so many bowls of Count Chocula the roof of my mouth went a bit raw :X

The best part about me getting Count Chocula?

By the way, it's technically still edible, for the date says Best By August 24th 2010 which means it doesn't expire then but that it is best to eat by that time. I can't wait for Count Chocula season, I've missed chocolate-y cereals. Does anyone else remember Nesquik or Oreo-Os? My favorite cereals always get discontinued :(

Search

About Me

Welcome! My name is Mai. I am a Vietnamese Beauty Blogger located in Orange County/Los Angeles, CA. I feature reviews/swatches of cosmetics at all price points and post photos of my makeup looks. I hope you enjoy reading!